Outdoor Attractions and Learning Spaces

Home to more than 300 types of trees and plants, Horticulture Park provides a nearby escape from Purdue’s campus, as well as academic experiences for horticulture and forestry classes. The 24-acre park officially opened May 10, 1967. C.W. Beese, professor of engineering and a plant enthusiast, donated the park’s central parcel of land. Beese originally started the park’s plant collection in the 1940s. Other portions of the park come from the estate of R.B. Stewart, and the neighboring Wabash Valley Nursery.

The Horticulture Gardens are a source of knowledge and beauty for students and visitors, alike. The gardens are a living classroom. There, university classes meet, student workers and volunteers get hands-on training in garden maintenance, and visitors learn about garden plants and gardening techniques. And the gardens are a retreat. Their beauty and soothing atmosphere make them as much a place to enjoy as to learn. In just under half an acre, the gardens display a wide diversity of plants, including over 300 cultivars of annual flowers and garden vegetables. Visitors can see how cultivars perform in side-by-side plantings featuring many new cultivars. Since the gardens were established in 1982, collections have grown to encompass nearly 200 species of perennial flowers and foliage plants.

The Slayter Center of Performing Arts is outdoor concert bandshell completed in 1964 and dedicated May 1, 1965. The facility was a gift from Games Slayter and his wife Marie. The natural amphitheater created by Slayter Hill can hold 20,000 people. Architect Joseph Baker used Stonehenge in England as a basis for the concept of the Slayter Center. The 200-ton concrete roof is suspended by stainless steel cables from a tall steel tripod and the stage can seat an orchestra of more than a hundred. Below the stage are a rehearsal room, dressing rooms and storage facilities. Slayter Center is home to the Purdue Jazz Bands.

Academy Park is a landscaped pedestrian green space in the heart of the Purdue University campus that replaced a series of streets and parking lots. The five-acre tract includes new walks connecting the buildings surrounding the mall, parking for bicycles and some automobiles, and seating areas for students and staff. The seating areas are enhanced by flowering pear trees, which provide a pedestrian scaled space.

Founders Park is a beautifully landscaped pedestrian mall with Purdue’s historical Loeb Fountain, an interactive water sculpture. Dedicated April 23, 1994 during Purdue’s 125th anniversary year, the park is larger than two acres and includes walks, trees, tables, seating, lighting, and retaining walls. The Loeb Fountain, originally located in front of Hovde Hall, is now the centerpiece of Founders Park. It can recycle up to 2,200 gallons of water per minute. Founders Park is named in recognition of the students, faculty, administrators, trustees, and benefactors who helped nurture the University in its early years.

Take a minute to slow down and relax at Pickett Park. Here you can enjoy the serenity and landscape as you step away from the hustle and bustle to a convenient location right here at Purdue. Bring a picnic or a good book to the corner of Stadium Ave. and McCormick Rd. Pickett Park is available for reservation to groups and organizations affiliated with the University. Pickett Memorial Park is named for the late Dean Pickett, a student at Purdue. He died in July 1969 in Yosemite National Park when a ledge he was standing on gave way. His parents, Robert and Margaret Pickett, established the park in 1971 to memorialize their son and his great love of the outdoors. In the spring of 1998, the class of 1999 renovated the park.